Chapter 272 – The Hero of Our Era
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Jiang Lanjian returned to his own seat and quietly watched Lin Ming. He turned to Jiang Baoyun sitting beside him and said, “Lin Ming might join the Sword Faction in the future. Without accident, he will probably become the next first ranked disciple of the Sword Faction, and he might even be the strongest person in the Seven Profound Valleys’ entire younger generation!”
“Maybe.”
Jiang Baoyun faintly replied.
“Aren’t you worried?” Jiang Lanjian looked into Jiang Baoyun’s eyes, hoping to discern something from within them.
“Why should I be worried?”
“Worried that he might steal your position and take your resources. Right now you are the one with the most potential for growth in the entire Seven Profound Valleys’ younger generation, and are also a Sword Faction talent that hasn’t been seen in a hundred years. Before this, the Total Faction and Sword Faction would do whatever it took to raise you. But, if Lin Ming came…”
What Jiang Lanjian said was the truth. This was what 99 out of 100 people would worry about. In the end, the Seven Profound Valleys had limited resources.
Jiang Baoyun laughed, “Take my resources? Haha, Lanjian, do you think you can produce a top Revolving Core master by piling up resources?”
As Jiang Baoyun said this, Jiang Lanjian froze. He wasn’t wrong. One could pile up resources to bring up a Pulse Condensation martial artist, or even a Houtian realm martial artist. If one were truly desperate, they could waste several dozens of Heaven Opening Pills in order to create a Xiantian realm master. But there had never been a case of a truly mighty Revolving Core master being created from any piles of resources. Even if these so-called geniuses wanted to reach the Revolving Core realm, it would be nigh impossible!
Jiang Baoyun said, “If a martial artist wholeheartedly expects and desires only resources from the sect, then his heart of martial arts will suffer and waste away. This sort of person will never become anything great! I am a swordsman, and I will only believe in the sword I hold, not the resources that the sect provides me! Much less, the Seven Profound Valleys is only a third grade sect. In terms of resources, who can we compare to? Can we compare to Divine Phoenix Island? Can we compare to Peacock Mountain?
“When we geniuses are in the Pulse Condensation period, it is possible that our strength can compare to a normal middle Houtian realm, or even late Houtian realm master. This sounds amazing, but the truth is those Houtian realm masters will be inferior to us for their entire lives! They will never step into the Xiantian realm. After we reach into the Xiantian realm, the only ones that can compare to us will be a Xiantian master. These Xiantian realm masters were also the same as us when they were in the Pulse Condensation period, they will have the same talent as us!
“All of us are geniuses. If I’m worried about just this and cannot blossom as a martial artist, then what qualifications do I have to impact the Revolving Core realm?
“My goal is clear, and that is to pursue the ultimate sword, to find out what lies at the end of the sword path. I do not fear that others will be my rivals; on the contrary, what I fear is that no one will be my opponent! If one day a peerless talent of Sky Spill Continent were to appear in front of me, and I were to be able to surpass his shadow, then I will become one of the true heroes of this era!”
Jiang Baoyun spoke with a manner as if he were looking down on the world. As Jiang Lanjian heard this, he also felt his heart stirring and his emotions surging. Jiang Lanjian’s own talent was already quite good, but in comparison to his Senior-apprentice Brother who was about the same age as him, he had always been a step behind. Jiang Lanjian was thoroughly convinced of his strength.
He said, “Senior-apprentice Brother is correct. For us swordsmen, to have a powerful opponent is what we wish for the most!”
…….
After the match between Lin Ming and Jiang Lanjian, the matches were much quieter. There were no more matches worth paying attention to in the sixth ground.
During the seven round, fifth match, Zhang Yanzhao faced off against Fang Qi. Fang Qi once again placed down his Nine Circles of Blue Light Arrays, but they were all torn apart by Zhang Yanzhao’s Blood King’s Triple Murder.
Fang Qi once again suffered a miserable defeat.
Fang QI was just helpless. The disciples of the Array Faction were best at fighting positional battles, but Zhang Yanzhao’s attack power was one of the best among all the contestants. Fang Qi was like a fort, and the Blood King’s Absolute Murder was the heaven collapsing landslide. In front of this attack, his Nine Circles of Blue Light Array were just like fragile eggshells.
Eighth round, third match. Zhang Yanzhao against Jiang Lanjian.
In terms of striking power, Zhang Yanzhao naturally surpassed Jiang Lanjian. However, no matter how strong his attack power was, it was all useless if he couldn’t use it!
Jiang Lanjian’s sword energy turned into a thin line of highly compressed true essence. In a split second, he had sent out several dozen sword strikes. The sword energy weaved out just like a dense net!
This sort of highly compressed sword energy was extremely sharp and formidable, it was also extremely difficult to destroy.
Jiang Lanjian hadn’t used the Concept of Wind. Even without it, he had already placed Zhang Yanzhao into a very difficult situation.
His sword was just like a venomous serpent. Every time, it would pierce through the weak points of Zhang Yanzhao’s true essence, and wouldn’t give Zhang Yanzhao any chance to condense his true essence.
Zhang Yanzhao couldn’t use his full strength. Facing the intense hail of sword energy he was overwhelmed and continuously struck by sword energy. Although he wanted to attack Jiang Lanjian, all he could ever hit was his own shadows; he couldn’t even touch the hem of Jiang Lanjian’s clothes.
Chi chi chi!
Zhang Yanzhao’s arm cuffs and pants were all cleanly sliced off by the sword wind. This was obviously Jiang Lanjian’s staying his hand. Otherwise, Jiang Lanjian had the capability to even cut off Zhang Yanzhao’s arms and feet.
Zhang Yanzhao sighed and placed back his saber; there was no longer any point in continuing this match. Jiang Lanjian had already given him enough face by going easy, if he continued he would only be disgracing himself.
“I admit defeat.”
“Well fought.” Jiang Lanjian cupped his fists together in respect, and turned around to leave. Although he had struck out with his sword more often, he hadn’t used much true essence. As for Zhang Yanzhao who had been slashing out with massive waves of true essence, he was already panting on the ground.
The disparity was too great!
Before this battle had even started, Zhang Yanzhao had already speculated that he would most likely lose to Jiang Lanjian. But he hadn’t thought that he would lose without being able to force Jiang Lanjian to use the Concept of Wind.
“It is how it is, Yanzhao didn’t lose without cause.” The Elders of the Zhang Family could only sigh. In the fight between Lin Ming and Jiang Lanjian, they hadn’t been able to feel just how strong Jiang Lanjian was. But now that Jiang Lanjian and Zhang Yanzhao fought, the difference in their strength was obvious. Zhang Yanzhao hadn’t even been able to force out his opponent’s trump card.
It was hard to imagine that Lin Ming was able to defeat such a powerhouse that could defeat Zhang Yanzhao without any resistance.
Eighth round, tenth match. Jiang Baoyun against the Puppet Faction’s second disciple, Mugu Jirong.
This match was more or less decided. No one was anxious about it. What was even worse was that Mugu Jirong had lost three puppets. Even if all of his puppets were still fully intact, no one believed that Mugu Jirong had any chance of defeating Jiang Baoyun.
Jiang Baoyun didn’t even bring out his sword. He merely used his sword fingers and was able to break through the true essence protecting Mugu Jirong’s body.
“Jiang Baoyun, victory!”
When the referee announced this, the entire audience gasped.
Although Mugu Jirong’s combat power had drastically fallen, for better or for worse he was still the second ranked disciple of the Puppet Faction. The Puppet Faction was not a weak faction, and their second disciple was far superior in combat than the direct disciples of the Array Faction and Refiner Faction.
This could be seen from the match between Mugu Jirong and Huo Yanluo. At the start, Mugu Jirong was able to easily push Huo Yanluo into a corner. It was only when Huo Yanluo suddenly used a Flame Essence that he won. Otherwise, Mugu Jirong would have inevitably won.
But now that formidable Mugu Jirong hadn’t even been able to force Jiang Baoyun to bring out his sword. This difference in their strength was simply too great.
“He’s just too strong! From his first match, Jiang Baoyun had never drawn his sword. He only used his sword fingers to sweep away all his opponents!”
“The Sword Faction was originally the strongest faction in the Seven Profound Valleys, and Jiang Baoyun is the most outstanding talent that the Sword Faction has seen in the last 100 years. His strength is already beyond the imaginations of people like us. Putting aside Jiang Baoyun, even Jiang Lanjian’s talent has already caught up with the Sword Faction’s former direct disciples. Out of the current seven direct disciples, half of them are inferior to Jiang Lanjian! This could be seen from when Jiang Lanjian had defeated Zhang Yanzhao! He won even without using the Concept of Wind!”
“Right, the only reason that Jiang Lanjian lost to Lin Ming is because Lin Ming is too strong, not because Jiang Lanjian is weak. I think that Jiang Lanjian will definitely be able to reach the top 6. As for Lin Ming, he might even reach the top 3!
……………
When Jiang Baoyun walked down from the stage, he saw Mugu Buyu looking at him with a strange smile, making small ‘jejeje’ laughing noises.
Jiang Baoyun and Mugu Buyu were without a doubt the two disciples of this Total Faction Martial Meeting that were popular as the ones with the highest chances to become the champion. Ouyang Ming, who had blossomed in glorious splendor during the last Martial Meeting, was already completely overshadowed by them.
“Jiang Baoyun, you sure are cruel enough. I want to have a look and see just how long you can hide your sword!” Jiang Baoyun hadn’t even used his sword to defeat the second ranked disciple of the Puppet Faction, causing the Puppet Faction to lose face. This caused Mugu Buyu to not feel happy at all.
Jiang Baoyun smiled and said, “I won’t be hiding it much longer, but… you shouldn’t care about me, you should care more about yourself. Against Lin Ming, your little toys might be broken.”
“Lin Ming? Hehehe! You think that I am as useless as that Jiang Lanjian?” Mugu Buyu sneered, “Jiang Baoyun, when you and I fight, I hope that you will still have some cards in your hand. Otherwise, you won’t have the qualifications to force me to use my full strength!”
Jiang Baoyun only smiled, no longer speaking. Mugu Buyu, who had achieved the Essence Integration boundary really was a powerful opponent, but, Jiang Baoyun had a faint instinctual feeling that Lin Ming was the greater threat!
…………
Ninth round, first match. Huan Xiaodie against Mugu Buyu!
When the small, cute, and charming Huan Xiaodie stepped on stage with a cheerful smile, the entire audience thought that this would be an extremely fierce battle. Even Lin Ming was closely watching to have a good look at Mugu Buyu’s strengths. But, no one had imagined that right after the referee announced the start of the match, that Huan Xiaodie would impishly smile and then simply say, “I admit defeat!”
The entire audience was stunned, even Lin Ming was speechless. Even the worst of the seven direct disciples, Fang Qi, had fought a symbolic battle against Mugu Buyu, causing him to reveal his Essence Integration boundary.
This Huan Xiaodie should at least be stronger than Fang Qi, but she didn’t seem to care about the face of a direct disciple at all, instead admitting defeat as soon as she could.
The audience was somewhat disappointed that this splendid match didn’t come to fruition. However, that disappointment quickly faded as another heavyweight match began.
“Ninth round, third match. Lin Ming against Qin Wuxin!”
The Zither Faction was the most understated and low-key faction of the Seven Profound Valleys. They didn’t have many people, but their disciples were not weak. on the contrary, they had many strange and peculiar attack methods that were exceedingly difficult to deal with.
Qin Wuxin’s personality was also very low-key. Many people only knew that she was young and had reached Large Success of her Zither Heart. But as for just how strong she was, no one was actually clear.
Lin Ming also didn’t know anything about Qin Wuxin, but he knew approximately what it meant to reach Large Success of the Zither Heart.
At first, when Qin Ziya had been at the peak of Houtian realm, he had taken a Heaven Opening Pill in order to breakthrough to the Xiantian realm. But because of a flaw in his Zither Heart, he had failed.
Afterwards, Qin Ziya had gone out exploring the world, traveling to the deep valleys and glens, finally spending a full decade to successfully cultivate Large Success of his Zither Heart!
Qin Ziya had originally been a musician, and he had very outstanding attainments in zither skills. If he had not started his cultivation at such a late stage, he most likely would already be at the Xiantian realm. Even so, Qin Ziya still used a full 10 years of adventuring to temper his Zither Heart to the Large Success stage. But in comparison to Qin Wuxin, the disparity between them was too great, it was enough to horrify anyone!